This week we navigate an altogether other realm in the wellness picture and look at the subtler energies of our bodies and environment as studied and explained in Ayurveda and Yoga. Some of the principles will be completely new and perhaps feel unconventional for the western mind. What you need to know is that this is ancient wisdom which the yogis of old, the gurus and rishis discovered through meditative states and that have been tried and tested for millennias. The reason I feel it is necessary to cover this ground is that understanding how our energy circulates in and and out of the body and sustains itself is vital to create good strong energy and this chapter is all to do with the energising selfcare routines derived from the understanding of our energy systems.
THE 3 GUNAS
There are 2 important principles called the gunas in Ayurveda. The first, as we looked at in the first week of the course, describes the world using multiple sets of opposite qualities – qualities which eventually form the making of the doshas. In Sanskrit the word Guna also refers to the 3 fundamental potential energies that make up everything in the universe. These are Tamas, Rajas and Satva.
Tamas is the dull, sleepy vibration of inertia, darkness and resistance. This is the energy of hibernation and procrastination, decay, ignorance and fears.
Rajas is energy as we most often know it in the west in terms of action, activity, force, emotion, power and turbulence. It results in getting things done through sheer will and pushing, control and authority.
Satva or sattva is the energy of progress, development, balance, purity, the higher path, wisdom, intelligence, harmony, perception, truth, honesty and light.
All 3 qualities exists in everything (including food) and in everyone but whilst it would be discouraged to ignore or annihilate one of them, the evolutionary direction lies in supporting satva and satvic qualities in the body and lifestyle whilst watching a healthy balance of the other two.
How you build and work on this is by consciously and repeatedly making choices in life that mostly support satva in your diet, your work ethic, your life ethics, the company you keep and the activities you entertain. Once again this isn’t about taking a fundamentalist approach which would be unhealthy and would be sure to lead you into overdrive Raja. It is about harmony and balance as only you know how to manage by consistently observing your actions and manner of living and again and again adjusting towards a better ethos.
It’s interesting to notice that aggravated Kapha will lean towards tamasic behaviours, aggravated Pitta will lean towards rajasic behaviours and aggravated Vata will be leaning towards both at different times in quick succession. Something to keep an eye on.
THE 5 KOSHAS
If you have been practising yoga for a long time you may have come across the definition of Koshas to describe the 5 layers that make up the individual. Koshas literally translates as sheath. They are explained as layers that compose the person and covering the Atman, the true self.
The Annamaya Kosha is the physical sheath. This is the body, also referred to as the food sheath as the body is made up of the food we take in. It is the outermost layer and is split into 6 expressions: existence, birth, growth, modification, decay and death. It is a tool for awareness.
Pranamaya Kosha is the vital energy sheath. It contains Prana, the vital energy which we will describe in more details later. It can be controlled by the breath and is a link to manage the mind. It includes the chakras and nadis (energy meridians).
Manomaya Kosha is the mental sheath. It is linked to the 5 senses and consists of the organisation of our perception, leading to habits, language and emotions including fears, desires and impulsive reactions.
Vijnanamaya Kosha is the intellectual sheath. This is discernment, the ability to discriminate that is critical thinking, witnessing, understanding the relationship of cause and effects. The last 2 Koshas can sometimes battle the “I know I shouldn’t but I want to”.
Anandamaya Kosha is the bliss sheath. This relates to the peace within, the harmony at your core, absolute self-confidence, equanimity and a sense of wellbeing. A balanced mind leads to Anandamaya Kosha.
The Koshas are fixed layers of your inner being and in the larger view of creating wellbeing, wellness and even health it is very worthwhile to be aware of them and to be able to decifer where you are acting from in any situation. The awareness is key to use the intelligence within for building energy.
PHYSIOLOGICAL ENERGIES IN THE BODIES
OJAS: Ojas describes the essence of immunity and vitality in the body. Ojas is closely related to Kapha dosha and recognised as a “primal vigour”. It gives endurance and strength. It brings stability and nourishment of the muscle tissues. Frank John Ninnivaggi, M.D. in his book “Ayurveda, a comprehensive guide to traditional Indian medicine for the West” describes it as “the bio-energetic bodily material that contains the life force (prana) and serves the vital functions that maintain the body’s energy reserve and proper immune status.” If unclear what this means, the accent is on “contains”. If prana is a moving energy, the intelligence behind all mental and physical processes then Ojas is the resulting subtle substance or sap, the building blocks to your health and wellness. Ojas is said to be the body’s counterpart to pure joy, the cellular equivalent to bliss.
Good Ojas sustains you and helps you fight disease. Good Ojas derives from your inherited genetics and also your “acquired” health reserves, based on nutrition, lifestyle and environment. Good Ojas is based on quantity and quality.
How would you know if you have good Ojas?
– are you mostly happy and cheerful?
– loving and compassionate?
– content and calm?
– have strong immunity?
– glowing skin?
– sparkling eyes?
– shiny hair?
– excellent strength and endurance?
Or on the contrary do you often suffer:
– deep fatigue?
– lack of stamina or zest for life?
– often sick?
Ojas is affected by stress and lack of sleep, poor nutrition and digestion, overwork and excess anger, grief or worry as well as too much sex.
Ojas can however be replenished or made stronger by:
– following a diet and lifestyle appropriate to your constitution
– eating organic, wholesome, nourishing foods such as almonds, walnuts, honey, saffron, ghee, whole grains, some legumes such as mung beans, root vegetables and small amounts of good quality dairy products (milk should preferably be raw if you can source it)
– spending time outdoors in nature
– sleeping soundly
– switching off your electronic devices, TV, phones, computers
– practising meditation, chanting and certain pranayama exercises (yogic breathing practise)
– rejuvenating herbs such as shatavari, ashwagandha and amalaki which is a primal ingredient in the Ayurvedic herbal honey Chywanaprash (see the Pukka website in my resources page)
The lustrous glow you have when you get back from a holiday? That’s Ojas.
TEJAS: “Brilliance, the subtle energetic form of Pitta, the fire element. (…) Tejas is the intelligence pervading cellular tissues, srotas (channels of circulation between bodily tissues), organs, and mind especially Buddhi” Ayurveda, a Comprehensive Guide to Indian Medicine for the West by Frank John Ninivaggi, MD.
PRANA: Prana is the life force, Chi or Qi, and its vehicle, the breath. It relates to intelligence, sensory and motor functions and the nervous and respiratory systems, the circulatory system issuing from the heart, the digestive system, speech, energy, menstruation and elimination. Prana is made stronger by good diet, spending time outdoors and a little time in the sunlight daily, movement and exercise (walking and yoga are great basics), and regular attention to the breath making sure you are breathing naturally and healthily throughout the day as well a incorporating focussed breathing exercises which we will dive intimate now.
PRANAYAMA, BREATH PRACTICE
Breathing well is a largely unrecognised and untapped resource for creating energy in the system. Most breathing practices are very deceiving in that they appear very simple and perhaps slightly dull but when followed regularly they can release untold amount of energy as well as work on stabilising the nervous system which enables the body to work at its optimum as well as being a fantastic stress buster, freeing tons of energy for other purposes. When you breathe in addition to oxygen you also take in a lot of Prana. The oxygen gets diffused into the lungs and then gets into the bloodstream but the Prana goes throughout the body. With Pranayama you begin to use the entire lungs and take in much more than your normal quota of oxygen and Prana. The quality of the blood improves, it is more oxygenated. Pranayama helps to purify the system, eliminates toxins from the body and blood and calms and regulates the mind. You can exhilarate he blood circulation and stimulate the entire body quickly. It brings lightness of body, alertness of mind, good appetite, proper digestion and sound sleep. The benefits are multiple.
As part of our course what I would like you to do is set some checking points in your day where you come back to your breath and make a conscious decision to observe the breath and relax into a natural rhythm of breath. Notice if you have been holding your breath, if your breath is shallow or constricted in anyway. Be aware of it and consciously let go of the tension, the hold, the restriction and let your belly expand out on an in-breath and retract naturally on an out-breath. Every day, once in the morning, once at night (more or less according to schedule and how you feel) do this a couple of minutes then take your awareness and intention into practising the yogic breath.
If you feel dizzy at any point during breath work it is advised to come back to natural breathing, again these are subtle but powerful techniques to energise, revitalise, cleanse and calm the nervous system.
It is advised to come to a comfortable sitting position for Pranayama. Ideally sitting on a hard floor cross-legged with the body upright but at rest. Tilting the pelvis forward, if you need to, to support that lift in the chest, expansion around the lungs area and relaxing the shoulders down and away from the ears.
All breathing practices start with a full long outbreath before starting the exercise. We breathe in and out through the nose unless otherwise stipulated.
DIRGHA SVASAM – YOGIC BREATH
This consists in a deeper 3-part breath where the belly expands on an in-breathe then the breathe comes into the chest, opening and expanding and last the breath continues to fill up until the collar bones rise. As you breathe out from the top down the collar bones collapse, the chest comes in and the belly. Continuing to breath smoothly and continuously. Not isolating the parts but integrating breathing through each part in a continuous flow.
After a few minutes and an outbreath breathing naturally again.
Now I will describe a couple more breathing routines for you to practice with when you are able to find the time in your day. You would start with the Dirgha Svasam, the yogic breath then practice one or both of the following. Observe how these selfcare routines change the amount of energy you have in the day.
KAPALABHATI – SKULL SHINING BREATH
Kapalabhati is a strong practice where we exhale forcefully and inhale naturally.
Placing one hand on your abdomen to bring your awareness to the movement of the body during the exercise, start by breathing out fully, then take a half breath in.
Exhale by snapping the belly in, the air rushes out through the nose.
Inhale by letting the belly fill up naturally again.
You finish a round by breathing out fully and naturally then breathing in using the 3-part breath pattern and finally breathing out very slowly and very deep,y as if you were expulsions through the skin throughout the body. Just visualising so.
We do 3 rounds of Kapalabhati. On the first we do about 15 to 30 expulsions. Gradually increasing the number of breaths per round in subsequent rounds. Advanced practitioners go to one hundred or more expulsions.
As we first learn the exercise trying to keep the rhythm not too fast, just a slow exhale/inhale until you get a handle on the practise of snapping the belly in on an outbreath and inhaling naturally. If you have practised for a while you can up the tempo but again being very weary that this is powerful so any uneasiness in the body or mind, any dizziness is a sign to come to a stop.
NADI SUDDHI – ALTERNATE NOSTRILS BREATH
Nadi Suddhi is also called the nerve purification breath. Sitting comfortably and making a fist with the right hand. Releasing the last 2 fingers and the thumb. Keeping the elbow close to the body. We start by closing the right nostril with the thumb and exhale through the left nostril. I hale through the left nostril, close with the last 2 fingers. Open the right and breath out through the right nostril. Breathe in through the right nostril and switch again. Continuing to practise as such: breathing out, breathing in, swapping, breathing out, breathing in, swapping.
This practice is excellent for calming the nervous system. It is also practiced to harmonise the right and left brains, the mathematical and creative sides of the brain, the masculine and feminine energy lines.
After a few minutes and when you breathe out through the right nostril, breathing naturally again.
So here are some very simple but important practices for raising energy in the body whilst calming the nervous system.
I may have made it sound like Ojas is the most important of the three energies in the body by spending a little more time on it but that is not the case. Prana is fundamental and very important as eventually Tejas is too. I talked far less about Tejas but at this stage it is simply supported by the other practices.
MEDITATION
Meditation is a solid practice to create energy in the body through alleviating stress and calling onto your inner infinite resources.
We would need to write an entire book to cover the benefits of meditation but here are just a few of them in relation to energy :
Meditation increases:
– creativity, energy and general productivity levels
– contentment, a sense of wellbeing and happiness
– athletic performance
– the quality of sleep, relieving insomnia and promoting more restful sleep
– recovery from exertion
– recovery from stress
– resistance to disease
Meditation also reduces:
– blood pressure
– heart rate, enabling the heart to work more efficiently
– cholesterol levels
– mental tension and anxiety
– depression, mood swings and feelings of hopelessness and isolation
– dependence on external substances such as cigarettes, alcohol and drugs
The biggest benefit of meditation however is how it connects you to your inner core and a deeper source for energy and releases you from old limiting beliefs that you are not this or not that, that you cannot do this or cannot do that. By breaking off from these old moulds built over years of limiting experiences you are able to re-center around wholeness of being, something also refered to by modern psychologists as self-actualisation or self-realisation. You start feeling more integrated and connected, effortlessly in flow, in a state of fulfilment, inner freedom, energy and spontaneity. When you come out of meditation that feeling of potential and unboundedness will start sipping into the rest of your day.
HOW-TO:
– sit on a hard floor in a comfortable cross-legged position with the spine erect and the boy at ease and the chest well spread out. A firm cushion or folded blanket placed under the edge of the buttocks can help make the posture more comfortable tilting the pelvis forward to allow a lift in the chest and tall spine as well as allowing the knees to come closer to the floor. If you are not comfortable cross-legge you can sit in the pelvic pose knees bent, sitting on the feet, heels opening to the side. Or if you are not comfortable at all on the floor then you could sit on a chair with a straight back. The spine should be erect though and unsupported.
– The intention in meditation is to make the mind one-pointed, by this I mean focussing all your attention on a single point. There are many meditation techniques you may be familiar with such as candle staring, mantra repetition. If you have never meditated before you could simply bring your full attention to your breathing and keep the awareness there throughout, following each inbreath and each outbreath.
Many people have this idea that meditating implies trying very hard not to think about anything which is completely incorrect. In fact you are trying to zoom in on a point of awareness, actively focusing.
If distracting thoughts come in just treat them as unwanted guests. First ignore them. Many thoughts that come will simply leave if you don’t dwell on them.
If this doesn’t work and the thoughts persists, take a moment to analyse them. Question them. Or even make a deal to come back to them after your meditation. Never try to force yourself not to think about these thoughts as it will only build tension. Some days will feel like you are more disturbed than others, just go with it. You are releasing what needs to come up. Persevere and it will pass until you do feel peaceful.
Be loving, gentle and firm with your mind. Think of it as a mischievous child that sometimes need you to be strict and sometimes needs you to give in a little.
A good tip is to make a to-do list before you start your meditation in order to free-up your mind of the recurring thoughts of what needs to be done later in the day.
MEDITATION IN DAILY LIFE (active meditation)
If the sit down meditation is a struggle you may find that at least to start with performing another activity that you love and thrive for – say drawing, doodling, walking or running, dancing – and keeping your mind fully focussed on it (simply, without trying too hard or even at all, just enjoying what you are doing), that may be a better way to get you into a habit of presence and one-pointed attention.
Also… a simple way to bring your energy levels up is to be fully present with each moment and each task throughout the day. In as much as is possible be embodied right here right now in your daily activities, carry awareness into each moment. Keep your mind focused on the task at hand. Fulfill the duty of the moment with all your concentration.
Again I’m not talking about living like a monk. I happen to think that a little daydreaming here and there is good for creativity and vision but try not to dwell on the past or worry about the future but engage with the people you are with and the work than you are doing.
Ok so this is where I leave you this week and invite you to try some of these techniques I presented. You’ll get far better results if you chose one or more practise and start following them regularly. Regularity will build the results rather than just dabbling in one thing or another here and there. It’s the focus and the discipline of doing that one thing over and over that will make you feel invigorated. Now you try!
Namaste,
Anne
Evidence-based + Holistic 